Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in United StatesSilver Speaks: Traditional Jewelry of the Middle East

With their shimmering intricacy and fine craftsmanship, the silver necklaces, bracelets, earrings and other pieces from the Marjorie and David Ransom collection of Middle Eastern Arab jewelry illustrate that these pieces are far more than personal decoration. An Arab woman’s jewelry told you who she was, which tribe and region she belonged to, and her social and marital status.

Once an integral part of Arab women’s lives, indigenous silver jewelry traditions in the Middle East have fallen away in recent decades due to social, economic and cultural change. Domestic and imported gold jewelry is now the style, rather than a valued custom.